TV Info

Episode Premiere

November 18, 2012

Distributor

CBS

Genre

Game-Show, Adventure

Show Period

2001 - now

Production Company

Jerry Bruckheimer Television

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

Phil Keoghan

Synopsis

ROCKERS OUSTED IN MOSCOW

While Chippendales Jaymes & James celebrated their first victory of the Race in Moscow, rock star and lawyer James & Abba unsuccessfully tried to track down Abba's lost passport, and in the end they were eliminated.

SLOWLY SINKING

On the mat outside the Bolshoi Theater, rock star and lawyer James & Abba stood facing Phil without Abba's passport. Phil told the pair, "You need to produce the passports. You're not the last team to arrive." After a taxi took off with Abba's passport inside, the duo walked off the mat aiming to track down the missing passport. They entered a hotel to call the police for help, and a worried James said, "Time's ticking." Meanwhile, at the aquatic center, Josh & Brent continued to flounder in the pool, failing to correctly perform the synchronized swim routine. Dating divorcees Abbie & Ryan held their end of the bargain by waiting for the goat farmers to finish. With darkness falling, the swim coach informed Josh & Brent that the pool would be closing so they had one more chance to get the routine right. However, as soon as the music started and the Beekman boys dove into the pool, Brent continued to show discomfort with the choreographed moves. In the end, Brent sealed the team's failure, missing the final flip. The coach gave Josh & Brent their clue, and along with it, a 4-hour penalty for not completing the task.

ALL LOCKED UP

As James & Abba continued to speak with authorities about their missing passport, Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent arrived at Luzhkov Most where Abbie and Josh each chose a Tree of Love and began trying to unlock their next clue. Facing exhaustion and frustration from their travel nightmare, Josh still managed to figure out the trick that the smaller key rings attached to the locks would unlock some of the other locks on the tree. Soon, Josh unlocked all ten locks to release the clue sending them to the Pit Stop at the Bolshoi Theater. While Josh breezed through the task with little problem, Abbie struggled to find the keys for her last few locks. Sitting on the ground, a frustrated Abbie told Josh, "I don't have any that fit. I don't know what to do." After giving her a hug, Josh showed Abbie which keys would unlock her remaining locks and helped her finish. He later said, "It just felt awful seeing her like that. In a Roadblock, when your partner can't help you, you can feel really alone." Once Abbie had her clue, the four racers all hugged as Josh noted, "It's been a long day."

LONG DAY ENDS

Stepping on the mat at the Bolshoi Theater, Ryan & Abbie and Josh & Brent expected to hear the worst news from Phil. The shocked quartet couldn't believe their ears when Phil told them another team was still on the course revealing that Ryan & Abbie finished in fourth place and Josh & Brent in fifth. However, the goat farmers also now faced a four-hour penalty added to their start time for not completing the Detour. A worried Josh admitted, "We've got a lot of catching up to do." After exhausting all options, even calling the U.S. Embassy, rock star and lawyer James & Abba returned to the Bolshoi Theater still one passport short. Now officially in last place, James & Abba got a piece of surprisingly good news in an evening of shattering disappointment. This was a non-elimination leg, so the rock star and lawyer were still in the Race. In the next leg, they would face a Speed Bump, but until they reached a point where they had to produce their passports, they could keep racing. Abba said, "Where there's breath, there's hope. We don't have a lot of breath, but the lights haven't been turned out yet. We got one shot at something happening. Otherwise we go home."

THE RACE CONTINUES

Departing the Pit Stop in first place, dating couple Trey & Lexi ripped open their clue, which sent them to the Study Building Number 6 at the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. Once there, they would follow the marked path to large Chemistry Auditorium Number 1. Although Trey & Lexi hoped to protect their lead and continue their winning streak, the dating couple ran into problems with taxi drivers almost immediately. With rain pouring down, their first driver dropped the couple off in a questionable part of town, covered in graffiti and broken bottles. Quickly realizing that this probably wasn't the academy, Trey & Lexi flagged down a second taxi driven, a rather colorful character, dressed in pink and smoking cigarettes. After several failed attempts, the driver finally found Study Building Number 6 and dropped the frazzled pair off. Walking up the stairs to the chemistry auditorium, Trey & Lexi saw the much more relaxed Chippendales Jaymes & James waiting for the doors to open at 8:00am. Trey told the Chippendales, "This is the most miserable morning we've ever had."

BACK TO SCHOOL At 8:00am, the doors of the auditorium opened. The Chippendales and Trey & Lexi entered, surprised to walk past a Speed Bump for James & Abba, and ripped open their clue, a Roadblock. Russia is the world's largest country in terms of land mass, almost twice the size of the United States. In this Roadblock, teams were shown Russia's nine different time zones and a local Moscow time. Then, they had to calculate the time of day in five Russian cities. Once they zoned in on the times, the professor would hand them their next clue. Sitting down in adjacent seats, Lexi and Jaymes watched the large screen at the front of the lecture hall next to where the professor stood. After the first slide flashed 2:15 local time in Moscow, the next slide showed a color-coded graphic representation of Russia's nine time zones. The furthest west included Moscow (+4 UTC) and stretched all the way east eight hours to +12 UTC. The final slide still showed the color-coded time zone divisions but now instead of showing the numbers (+4 to +12), the map showed selected cities in different time zones. Knowing that the time is 2:15 in Moscow, racers had to figure out the time in 5 of the cities shown on the map in the third slide. With slides flashing on the screen for a very short time, Jaymes and Lexi simply laughed at first because they couldn't process and calculate all of the information fast enough. Smiling, Jaymes joked, "I don't miss college at all." After eleven attempts, the combined forces of Jaymes and Lexi couldn't pass the exam. Suddenly, a look of realization crossed over Lexi's face as she understood what she and Jaymes had been doing wrong. Since Moscow was +4 UTC, then to find the time a city in +6 UTC zone they would have to add 2 hours to the Moscow time instead of 6 hours like they had been doing. Similarly a city in +10 UTC would be 6 hours ahead of +4 UTC Moscow, so 6 needed to be added to the time they were given. After realizing this trick, the duo finally earned their clue from the stern professor.

LET'S DANCE

Ripping open their clue, Jaymes & James and Trey & Lexi discovered a Detour having to choose between Movers and Shakers. Movers required teams to learn and perform a Russian soldier dance. After choosing an instructor, they would be taught a punishing routine. If they could push through the pain and perform the steps in time with the music, their instructor would hand over their next clue. Shakers required teams to identify seven historic Russian leaders at an elegant cocktail party. Working from a list of names, they had to find a specific number of lookalikes for each of the seven historical figures. When they identified the right number of leaders, Alexander Pushkin would hand them their next clue. Taking taxis together to Hotel National, Jaymes & James and Trey & Lexi ran into the Petrovsky Room, dressed up in Russian military uniforms, and selected soldiers to teach them the complicated and athletic dance routine. After spraining his ankle in Shanghai, James had been careful to make sure he didn't hurt himself any further in subsequent legs. But as soon as he attempted the squats and kicks required by the dance moves, the pain in his ankle flared up. Standing back up, James hobbled away for a moment, telling Jaymes, "My ankle is killing me." Returning to learn more choreography, James looked in disbelief when the instructor demonstrated the coffee grinder, a move requiring him to crouch low and swing his leg around in a circle putting even more pressure on his hurt ankle. Breaking out in a sweat from the pain, James said, "Every time I step on it, it's excruciating."

SOLDIERING ON

Instead of switching Detour challenges, Jaymes & James decided the best plan of attack would be to ditch further instruction from the soldier and start performing to utilize what little strength remained in James' tender ankle. In their first attempt, the Chippendales failed to earn their clue since they missed the mark on the number of kicks they performed. For the second attempt, James hobbled onto the dance floor to preserve his ankle for another try. This time, the Chippendales followed every move of the soldier dancing in front of them and earned an encouraging thumbs-up from the judge. Ripping open their next clue, Jaymes & James discovered they were heading to the Pit Stop at Sokolniki Park. With Trey & Lexi finishing their dance and in a taxi close behind, Chippendales Jaymes & James arrived at the outdoor pavilion in Sokolniki Park and stepped on the mat in first place. Celebrating this leg's victory, Phil rewarded Jaymes & James with a trip for two from Travelocity to Costa Rica. Jaymes told Phil, "Sounds amazing. We're ready to go." After a close fought race all day, dating couple Trey & Lexi ended in second place.

EXPRESS PASSING

Departing the Pit Stop in third place, twins Natalie & Nadiya knew they had to use their Express Pass in this leg. As soon as the twins walked into the chemistry lecture hall and read the Roadblock clue, they both said, "Hell no!" Turning over the Express Pass to the professor, the twins received their Detour clue and promptly chose to dance. As they learned the soldier dance routine, there suddenly was a loud pop. Natalie ripped her pants right at the seam of her seat. Laughing, she tried to continue and then proceeded to rip her pants even further. After changing pants, Natalie and her sister completed the dance and finished the leg in third place.

COMPLETELY PUZZLED

In fourth place, dating divorcee Ryan chose to tackle the time zone quiz while partner Abbie looked on. Sitting down at a desk, Ryan appeared confident, later saying, "Puzzles and games are kind of my strong point." Commenting that he would be done with the quiz in a matter of mere minutes, Ryan became confounded when the professor continually rejected each of his submissions. By his 21st quiz, Ryan became agitated and confronted the professor, saying, "The math is contradictory. It says Moscow +4. Yet you're giving me the time in Moscow. It doesn't make sense. I'm not missing something here." But Ryan was missing something, and during the 24th attempt, he figured it out. Realizing the same trick that Lexi did earlier, Ryan finally earned the clue (and a hug) from the professor. After performing the soldier dance, Abbie & Ryan ended the leg in fourth place.

THE SEARCH GOES ON

While goat farmer Brent sat solving the time zone quiz in fifth place, last place James & Abba tried to track down Abba's missing passport. After calling the U.S. Embassy who couldn't offer a temporary replacement, the rock star and lawyer walked to the local police station, where, with the help of a local man who acted as their translator, the pair filed an official police report. With nothing else to be done in the passport search, once they left the police station, James & Abba returned to the racecourse hoping to catch up to Josh & Brent.

PARTY TIME

Once Brent aced the time zone quiz, he and Josh chose to spend some time with famous Russian leaders at a cocktail party. The goat farmers walked into a ballroom and began to introduce themselves to the guests. Together, they met General Leonid Brezhnev, Vladimir Lenin, and Tsar Nicholas II. Brent also introduced Peter the Great to Josef Stalin while Josh danced with Catherine the Great. After taking full inventory of the room, the goat farmers walked over Alexander Pushkin and correctly wrote down how many of each historical figure they met at the party. Before leaving, Josh & Brent toasted the party goers as Josh joked, "Wow, lively for a dead crowd." The goat farmers claimed fifth place with Josh commenting, "We're doing something right because we're still in the game."

END OF THE ROAD

Unable to recover Abba's lost passport, rock star and lawyer James & Abba arrived at the pavilion in Sokolniki Park in last place where Phil informed them that they had been eliminated from the Race. James commented, "We're feeling crushed today. We were hoping to get to the end of the Race and perhaps win it. However the fates had a different plan for us so we're accepting that now. We just had a great time." Abba added, "I don't want to be saying goodbye. I want to be holding a check next to my buddy here. We put another couple thousand miles on together. Hopefully there's many more. It's been an amazing experience. I'm glad I got to run it with my friend James. It's a little bitter today but hopefully the aftertaste will disappear."

Roadblock: A Roadblock is a task that only one person may perform. In this Roadblock, one person was shown Russia's nine different time zones and a local Moscow time. Then, they had to calculate the time of day in five Russian cities. Once they zoned in on the times, the professor would hand them their next clue.

Detour: In this Detour, teams had to choose between Movers and Shakers. Movers required teams to learn and perform a Russian soldier dance. After choosing an instructor, they were taught a punishing routine. If they could push through the pain and perform the steps in time with the music their instructor would hand over their next clue. Shakers required teams to identify seven historic Russian leaders at an elegant cocktail party. Working from a list of names, they had to find a specific number of lookalikes for each of the seven historical figures. When they identified the right number of leaders Alexander Pushkin would hand them their next clue.